Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith on Cowboys' woes: 'Coaches will have to coach better'
LOS ANGELES – Emmitt Smith says he doesn’t think the Dallas Cowboys are far from breaking through. But whether they do hinges in part on the coaching stuff, according to the Hall of Fame running back who starred for the Cowboys.
“Coaches will have to coach better and communicate better,’’ Smith told Paste BN Sports this week.
Specifically, Smith said, the coaches must preserve timeouts or make better decisions while determining “when to go for it and when not to go for it, kick field goals or not kick field goals, taking field position versus not taking field position. They’re going to have to do things different like that from a coaching standpoint.’’
In two years under head coach Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys are 18-15.
This past season the Cowboys went 12-5 and won the NFC East title. But they failed to win a playoff game, losing to San Francisco 49ers 23-17 in a wild-card matchup.
Dallas has not won a Super Bowl since 1996, when Smith rushed for two touchdowns as the Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17. But for the Cowboys to win another Super Bowl, Smith said, it will hinge not only on the coaches, but also the players.
“Players are going to have to do a better job of being focused and disciplined in their actions in terms of what they’re doing on the football field and executing at a high level on a consistent basis,’’ he said. “Yes, they can always upgrade offensively, they can upgrade defensively.
“They can learn how to stop the run a little bit better defensively, passing wise, interception wise. Those are just mistakes that need to be eliminated and that is on coaches and players to do those things, period.
“And until they do that with a serious commitment to excellence, then you going to get some sporadic play, you’re going to get some exciting moments that might not ever last.’’
During an interview with Paste BN Sports, Emmitt addressed a few other topics, such as:
The NFL’s crackdown on taunting.
“Some of it’s just weird, and I understand not wanting to taunt,’’ he said. “But when a player dances in the end zone, is that not taunting?
“Now I understand talking trash and cussing out each other to try to alleviate and the language and all that stuff, I get that piece. But seeing people dance in the end zone and everybody running to the end zone after an interception, is that not taunting? So taunting can go anywhere. Some of this stuff is so subjective, it’s giving people a chance to pick and choose when they want to do something and when they want to throw or something of that nature. That’s the part that bugs me the most.”
The overtime rule, which came under attack when the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 42-36 in overtime of the AFC championship game. The Bills lost without getting the ball in overtime because the Chiefs scored on the first possession.
“At the end of the day, the coin toss is the same old coin toss that you have at the beginning of the game,’’ Smith said. “Everybody has a 50-50 chance of winning and your job is to go out there and stop the opposing team from scoring a touchdown to give your offense to get on the field and to go score a touchdown.
“If you can’t stop the Kansas City Chiefs, they just can’t. So I think people want things to fit when they want it to fit. And that’s part of America, to be honest with you. They think the world is Burger King. They want it their way."